in the relationshipwithegypt. thiswas a relationship that was not defined. they were worried about deterioration. this crisis enabled them to create a link where egypt now is part of a deal, one that is supposed to be an enforcer of a deal. stature hashis risen. host: have they had direct contact? guest: i am not aware of any because the president has avoided that. the israelis typically even in negotiations, day-to-day negotiations, the egyptians subcontractor these issues mostly to the intelligence services. hosni mubarak did that as well. it was not even a foreign ministry issued. i doubt there was any contact. if you look at what happened with hamas itself, when you look at the war itself, clearly, hamas paid a heavier price. israel's power is massive compared to hamas. hamas fired a lot of rocket, but if you look at the casualties, you have the five israelis dead and over 1000 injured total. what hamas wanted to call a balance of fear. civilians are terrified and they are sleeping in bunkers. israeli kids and families are also fearful. that did not translate obviously into an asset for them

saw this massive push in this really indigenous pushwithinegypt, tunisia,and other democratic governments. some of those movements have had potentially scary things. there are some islamic fundamentalist parties that we do not have great relationships with and they understand that can be confusing thing. what obama has tried to do and in his famous speech in cairo is that he wants to deal with these countries and talk to the electorate. now we have an entirely different landscape, but in egypt, libya, and tunisia. relationship with these countries, these are countries with democratic governments. some of them have chosen paths that are a little more moderate, some leaning a little bit more to the fundamentalist side, but they're still fundamentally democratic and that will be a big challenge for the obama administration. host: its next for egypt? -- what is next for egypt? ?uest: in terms of ta host: the obama administration. guest: they still need to establish some of the legitimate government there. after the incredibly uplifting movements in it to rear square, it has devolv

and israel exchanged rocket and shell fire. in november 13, is real and hamas said messagesviaegyptindicatinginterest in a truce, but then it degraded from there. at the question is whether egypt can play a role, or the united states which has sent hillary clinton, can play a role. the israelis debate a ground invasion of your reporting from gaza city, the olive orchards, they lied to enter the border. monday the area was a virtual no mans land. hundreds of families have fled. it says that gazana are not the only ones encouraged about a ground invasion. talks in cairo, continue in cairo. let us hear from on next call, terry in maryland, on our line for republicans. caller: america has no real influence in the middle east. i say that because we have been trying to negotiate this cents ronald reagan. and if we had any influence with the arab-speaking population, we basically would have succeeded by now. the reality is, for half of the countries, we are nothing more than ana tm, and the other half, -- we are nothing more nothingan atm and for the others we are nothing more than an an

on this friday, november 23, 2012. we begin overseas. the cease-fire between hamas and israel has held.inegypt, presidentmohamed morsi showed his authority yesterday. a startling port grab, freeing himself from traditional oversight. president obama followed through on an annual tradition of calling 10 service members to personally thank them for their service. the washington times and the new york times reporting there are now more state capitols dominated by a single party that than at any time since 1952. the washington times question, is this the answer, secure for gridlock? we'll get your answers. send us a tweet or post your comments on facebook. also, you can e-mail us. we will begin with the front page of the washington times for our question for all new this morning, there headline -- do you think this could be a cure for gridlock? the new york times also has this headline this morning -- we want to hear from you this morning. let me give you the phone numbers again. how did you vote in the last election? did you vote with the intention of one-party rule in your state legislature? wh

: we will leave it there. a couple of stories regarding the situationinegypt. thelead story in "the washington post" -- also regarding the same story in "the financial times" -- back to the phones with our discussion for remedies to speed up the voting process. cathy, you are on "the washington journal." del ahead. caller: we have a vote by mail here. it is wonderful. we do not have problems. i am a little bit surprised a many people in the eastern part of the united states think there is so much fraud. we really do not have that much of a problem here. we always have a paper ballot to recount. host: our next call comes from jane in philadelphia on the line for republicans. caller: the story a minority inspector at the polls. -- i am a minority inspector at the polls. i think the only way to fix the problem is with an id. i had a van pulled up and ask them to see if they were in the book. they were not. they handed me a voter registration card. it looked strange to me. it was stamped from the city of philadelphia. the address said south spruce street. i know it runs east to west. it

times) reports that some senators are threatening to end aidtoegypt. mohammadmorsy has broadened his powers less repair john mccain says that while the u.s. is thankful for his help facilitating the cease-fire between israel and the gaza strip, he criticized his decision, which has prompted days of violent street protests in egypt. another senator, max baucus, the chairman of the senate finance committee, says that he wants to preserve the estate tax break, which is important for farmers who want to pass down land to their children. he hopes to expand the production tax credit for wind energy. watch the senate live on c- span2. those are some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. >> you listen to their member, who said the damage was unprecedented, that it may be the worst storm the city has ever faced, and that the tidal surge was 14. governor christie said the damage was unthinkable. we had fires, hurricane-force wind, massive flooding, deep snow. you look at that and the flooding into the subway systems, the shut-down of the stock exchanges, you get a sense of the massive scale

. tensions intensifiedinegyptasthe muslim brotherhood president -- he has met with judicial leaders. that is the latest of egypt. and the los angeles times, syria is now a shell of its old self. the los angeles times reporting on that. and then this tension debate on whether susan rice should become the next secretary of state. this is the washington times. but as far back to our discussion this morning for all of you. going off the fiscal cliff, some democrats are saying that the possibility and wouldn't be so bad. steve, on our line for republicans, what do you think? caller: i totally agree with the caller from texas who said that we should return to the clinton era tax law. just think of that era we had. we had a budget surpluses. and we had a winning prosperity. i do not think we need to fear returning to the clinton tax law. and as the caller said from texas, the democrats have demonized the bush tax cuts. and so we will see with the demon is. the 47% who do not pay income tax from about 30% of them will return to the tax rolls. and at least the pain is like to be spread aroun

intensifies and sent tanks for a possible invader. a story from early this morning notesthategyptopensa tiny window of truce in the gaza confrontation. the prime minister arrived in gaza strip on friday officially to show solidarity with the palestinian people after two days of relentless attacks by israeli war planes determined to end the militant rocket fire at israel. israel said it would cease-fire during the visit if hamas did too, but rockets fired from gaza hit several sites in israel and they responded with an attack on the house of hamas's -- that's it for this first segment of the "washington journal." up next, we'll have senator ron johnson, a republican of wisconsin, a member of both the budget and appropriation committees to join us to give his view on the fiscal cliff. and later, congressman keith ellison, a democratic from minnesota, will continue our discussion on the fiscal cliff. we'll be right back. >> truman was vice president for literally 82 days. and being truman, he actually presided over the senate. these days the vice president doesn't bother with that unless

on the ground in places like libyaandegypt. youthink this will reflect well on the u.s., or look like we are entering conflict for our own and game? guest: i don't think we choose to enter conflicts. we stuck with mubarak for while. we went with the protests as soon as they began on the streets. president obama trying not to become embroiled in to torsions abroad where he does not have to, but when things get too -- in situations abroad where he does not have to, but when things get to bad, he will. host: a comment on twitter. talking about ben ghazi and libya. what do those debts to reveal about president obama's foreign policy leadership? guest: that is a tough situation. i have been more following the campaign than the twists and turns of what happened in libya. it has not gotten a lot of coverage in some of the media. fox news have been pounding on it hard. i think maybe we will get some cooler answers after the election. host: jacksonville, fla., independent caller, patricia. caller: i am so sorry. i have three points i want to make and i were you to be patient with me. the first is

of letting the democracy happen what happenedinegypt, libya,democratic elections. they're going to have to deal with their own almost civil war like we had to make sure that they get the government they want and not necessarily our outcome can't just be we can establish a government that's friendly to us. it has to be the people and sometimes it takes generations for these governments to really take hold and be by the people. host: thanks for the call. guest: that's a fair point. i wouldn't say that the problem in afghanistan is the united states is opposed to democracy per say. what i would say is that the united states and the rest of the international community and after gans themselves have a long way to go before they have something that looks like a credible and effective democracy takes root. and before we get there there is the prospect that the country could revert back to if not civil war but extensive conflict throughout the country, extreme violence and that is of concern to the united states. and the reason it's of concern is not simply a humanitarian one or to put who we w

to me sierra -- tunisia, to yemen,toegypt. host:this is from maverick, who says republicans would prefer john kerry, freeing up space for scott brown. susan rice has degrees from stanford and oxford. patty, republican caller. caller: i wonder if this gentleman is aware that cnn had no problem going into this embassy to find documents. it was deliberate that did not send in the fbi to investigate. this was right before an election, and this gentleman is not sure why it took so long? also, c-span should have done some in depth shows before the election. i am disappointed in how you protected president obama in comparison to the-shows when president bush was president. part of the problem in ameritech is -- in america is the media should put under their caption white house stenographer. there was also a laser with where the attacks were, and that is why he got killed. he was an absolute hero. guest: there is concern with talking points in the mainstream media, as it is called, but in my defense i have written very critical things about barack obama and his presidency over the last th